[March 01, 2014]GAZA (Reuters) - The Israeli
military shot and killed a Palestinian woman in the Gaza Strip in an
area near the border that Israel has declared a no-go zone for
Palestinians, local hospital officials said on Saturday.

Gaza residents said it was not clear why 50-year-old Amna
Qdaih, who they said suffered from a mental illness, was near
the security fence that runs between Israel and Gaza.

Asked about the report, an Israeli military spokeswoman said
soldiers identified a number of suspects in the area late on
Friday and called on them to back away. After they did not, the
soldiers fired at their legs and one was hit, she said.

Qdaih's body was found and transferred to a hospital early on
Saturday.

Israel and the Islamist group Hamas, which rules Gaza, agreed in
2012 to a ceasefire after an eight-day war. The border has
remained relatively quiet since the truce, though violence
flares occasionally.

On Friday the Israeli military said one of its aircraft had
struck a site in Gaza used to launch rockets into the Jewish
state. No casualties were reported in that incident.